Hari

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Hari" redirects here. For other uses, see Hari (disambiguation).

Hari is another name of Vishnu or God in Vaishnavism, Smarta or Advaitan Hinduism, and appears as the 650th name in the Vishnu sahasranama. In Sanskrit Hari refers to a colour, yellow, or fawn-coloured/khaki (it is the colour of the Sun and of Soma; see also Hare Krishna).

1 Religious usage
2 Influences
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Religious usage

Within Sikhism it is stated that one of the names of God is Hari. The Golden Temple, the most sacred temple in Sikhism is also called Harimandir or "Temple of God."

In Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition Hari is a name of both Krishna or Vishnu meaning 'he who steals, or takes away'- referring to how Krishna takes away all distress and anxieties, and lovingly robs the heart of His devotee. During religious festivals it is a common occurrence to hear people call out Haribol ! Haribol ! meaning 'please call out the name Hari.

According to Adi Sankara' s commentary on the Vishnu sahasranama, Hari means "One who destroys samsara, which is the entanglement in the cycle of birth and death, along with ignorance, its cause.

In the Ravidasi religion it is the holy symbol consisting of the three letters in Gurmukhi with the character for "i" being made into a flame. It adorns all Ravidasi temples, known as Gurdehras.

[edit] Influences

The Avestan cognate is zari, sometimes incorrectly identified as the first part of the name of Zarathustra. The English words gold and yellow are probably also both cognates of hari. They all derive from the hypothetical Proto-Indo-European root *ghel-, meaning "to shine". Many words in other unrelated languages in Asia are also derived from the word; due to the influence of Sanskrit as a language of learning in the region. For example: the word for daylight in Indonesian, the word for day in Malay and the word for king in Tagalog, all of which are "hari". It is also a commonly used name in many Indian languages.